JERUSALEM – Fearful they might soon be forced to vacate Syria, Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad asked Egypt and Jordan whether they would be willing to host their terror headquarters, Israeli security officials said.

It was one of the first signs Syrian President Bashar Assad might expel the terror groups in an effort to divert mounting international pressure after a United Nations investigation all but blamed his regime for assassinating former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in February.

Both Egypt and Jordan declined to host the groups, officials said.

Hamas chief Khaled Meshal and Islamic Jihad head Ramadan Shallah operate openly from Damascus, where they give media interviews, hold meetings and make public appearances.

Israeli security officials say the terror chiefs in Syria also give orders for their West Bank- and Gaza-based operatives to attack Israel. For example, the Islamic Jihad suicide attack north of Tel Aviv that killed five last week was ordered from Damascus, they say.

Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades West Bank leader Abu Carmel, who said his group took part in last week's suicide bombing, verified to WND that orders to carry out the attack stemmed from Islamic Jihad's offices in Syria. Jihad claimed the bombing was retaliation for Israel's killing of one of its senior leaders two days before.

"The reaction of [Islamic Jihad leader] Shallah from his base in Damascus [to Israel's killing earlier of a senior Jihad member] was a clear demand to the Palestinian resistance, especially to Islamic Jihad to take revenge," Abu Carmel told WND.

According to security officials, while Egypt and Jordan turned down the relocation requests, both countries maintain contact with the terror groups. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whose troops last month assumed security control along the Sinai-Gaza border following Israel's withdrawal from the area, personally has negotiated deals and cease fires the past few weeks with Hamas chief Meshal, Hamas, sources told WND. And Jordan previously hosted senior Hamas and Jihad operatives but asked them to leave in 1999 under intense U.S. and Israeli pressure.

Said a senior security official, "That Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are now searching around for a new headquarters seems to be a sign Assad is feeling the heat and might be looking in desperation to make a few gestures, like kicking out some terrorists to placate the West."

The U.N. Hariri assassination report released last month concluded the murder was planned and carried out by senior Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials. While the final report doesn't name suspects, a draft sent to reporters implicated Assad's brother and brother-in-law, and several high-ranking Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officers close to the Assad regime.

The United States is trying to coordinate Security Council sanctions against Assad and, together with several European and Arab countries, is attempting to isolate the Damascus regime.